Cooking oven having combination light shield and panel holder



A ril 11, 1967 w. CKSMITLEY COOKING OVEN HAVING COMBINATION LIGHT SHIELD AND PANEL HOLDER Filed March 22, 1965 Way 2 C, f ey flaw United States Patent 3,313,930 COOKING OVEN HAVING COMBINATION LIGHT SHIELD AND PANEL HOLDER Wayne C. Smitley, Naperville, Ill., assignor to General Electric Company, a corporation of New York Filed Mar. 22, 1965, Ser. No. 441,623 2 Claims. (Cl. 240-) This invention relates to cooking ovens, and more particularly to the type of cooking oven wherein the walls have removable protective panels covering them and wherein an interior light is provided for the convenience of the user.

It is well known to provide protective panels for covering the walls of an oven. This is done so that the part of the oven on which food particles tend mainly to splatter may readily be removed from the oven and cleaned in the sink, rat-her than requiring cleaning right in the oven. It is also well known to provide interior lights in oven for the convenience of the user. One particularly convenient way of providing such -a light is to have it extending into the oven. This has the dual benefit of providing good light and making replacement of the light bulb a very simple and easily effected operation.

It is an object of my invention, in an oven of the type described hereab'ove, to provide a simple unitary member which will act in a dual capacity: it will act as a shield to protect the light bulb from being struck by objects in the oven as they are put or moved about in the oven by the user; at the same time, it will serve the additional function of retaining the panel covering the back wall of the oven in position. This rear panel has been found to be a particularly difficult one to secure in position so that, while it is held rigidly and without any rattling or movement, it is also readily removable for cleaning.

In one aspect of the present invention, I provide in the usual way a cooking oven in which a fixed box-like structure is formed with top, bottom, rear and side walls, and with a front access doorway thereinto. The side and back walls are covered by removable rigid side and back panels respectively, and the back panel has an opening formed therein to accommodate an electric light which extends into the structure forwardly from the rear wall. Conventional means such as, for instance, the rack supports, maintain the side panels in position against the side walls.

The light is provided with a unitary -U-sh-aped protective shield member which is secured at its ends on opposite sides of the light so that the light is positioned within the shield member and is protected against accidentally being struck by cooking utensils or racks being manipulated within the structure. In accordance with my invention this protective shield member is tormed near an end of one of the legs with an externally convex indentation which, when the back panel is positioned against the back wall, resiliently traps the back panel by engaging the edge of the opening provided for the light. In my preferred embodiment this opening is provided adjacent the top of the back panel where splattering is least ilkely to occur and where, in addition, the position of the light will give the best all-around lighting within the structure. Also, preferably, the shield is vertically positioned, with the indentation formed in its bottom leg so as to retain the panel adjacent the top edge thereof.

The features of my invention which are believed to be novel are set forth with particularity in the appended claims. The invention itself, however, together with further objects and advantages thereof, may best be understood by reference to the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing.

3,313,930 Patented Apr. 11, 1967 URE 1 a basic oven structure '1 which comprises a fivesided chamber constructed of upper and lower sheet metal walls 2 and 3-, a back sheet metal wall 4, and

side sheet metal walls 5 and '6. These are secured together, either by providing a unitary construction or else by welding or any other suitable means. This basic oven structure is suitable [for inclusion in domestic cooking ranges of all types, or may be used as a separate built-in wall oven, as is well known in the art. Of course, suitable thermal insulation (not shown) is applied to the exterior, and a door (also not shown) is provided in order to close the front opening during cooking operations.

Convention-ally, a dished bottom panel member 7 is removably positioned on the lower wall 3 of the oven structure, and a resistance heating element 8 of the familiar tubular sheathed type is positioned so 'as to extend horizon-tally just above the dished portion 9 of .panel '7. Heating element 8 is connected by conventional means (not shown) to a 230-volt 3-wire alternating current power system, as is well known in the art. Also, as is conventional and well known, element 8! may be h-ingedly secured at its rear so as to facilitate removal of panel 7 when so desired.

Another tubular sheathed heating element 10 is positioned to extend in a horizontal plane adjacent the inner surface of the upper wall 2 of oven structure '1. Conventionally, the upper unit 10 is primarily provided for broiling operations, while the lower element 8 may,either alone or in cooperative relationship with element 10, be used for baking and roasting operations.

In addition to removable panel 7, side panels 11 and 12 and a rear panel 13 are provided to cover walls 5, 6 and 4 respectively. These panels are generally formed of a suitably coated sheet metal which has sufficient thickness to be substantially self-supporting. For the sake of simplicity this will be referred to as a rigid memher, but it will be understod that rigid is used only in the sense of being self-supporting rather than being unbendable.

The side panels 10 and '11 cover substantially the entire inner surfaces of walls 5 and 6 respectively. They are held in position against these walls by any suitable means, which may conventionally comprise a rack supporting structure having vertical members 14 and 15 between which extend horizontal members 16 on which racks may be placed. The vertical members 14 and 15, as well as supporting the horizontal rack supports 16, also serve to maintain panels 11 and 12 in position against the side walls 5 and 6.

Referring now to the rear panel 16, it is intended to be substantially coextensive with the inner surfiace of back wall 4 so as to provide a protective covering therefor. However, as opposed to the side panels which have retention means readily provided by rack sections 14 and 15, there has heretofore been no structure which is readily suitable for retaining the back panel securely in position.

Extending from the back wall out of suitable electrical socket 17 provided for the purpose, is an electric light bulb 18 which is provided for the convenience of the user of the oven structure so as to provide good visibility within the oven. Because oven users must insert and remove cooking vessels and frequently move the racks (not shown) which are supported on members 16, it is conventional, where a light member 18 is arranged extending into the oven cavity, to provide a suitable shield therefor which will prevent the user from acci-- dentally hitting the light bulb. This may take the form of a unitary U-shaped member 19 of spring-type metal which is secured at the ends 20 and 21 of its legs 22 and 23 to the back wall 4. This is particularly well shown in FIGURES 2 and 3 of the drawing, wherein it can be seen that flanges 24 and 25 are provided to seat against the back wall 4, with threaded connectors extending through both the flange and the back wall to join them together. Preferably, the U-shaped member 19' is positioned in a vertical plane since racks and cooking vessels are usually moved from front to back by the user, and therefore will better be stopped by the U-shaped member when it is thus vertically positioned.

It is a feature of my invention that I provide an externally convex indentation 26 in one leg of the 'U-shaped member. Specifically, I provide indentation 26 in leg 23, that is, the lower leg, adjacent the end thereof. In order to accommodate the light 18, an opening 27 is formed in panel 13. Preferably, this opening is adjacent the top thereof, and may in fact extend in (from the upper edge 28, since this positions the light where it is least likely to receive splatter from foods which are cooking, and where it provides the best illumination within the oven structure. At its bottom, the edge 29 of opening 28 is so positioned that When the panel '13 is moved into place against back wall 4 there will be an interference relationship between the indentation 24- and the edge 29 of opening 27. Because of the spring-like quality of shield 22, the shield will be deformed as panel 13 is pushed back and thus let the panel pass behind the indentation 26. Then the shield 19 will spring back to its normal position in which the indentation will hold the panel 1 3 in position, as shown in FIGURE 2, by virtue of the fact that it is moved back into its interfering relationship with the edge 29 of the opening 27.

In this manner, then, the shield 19 performs the dual function of protecting the light 18 which projects into the oven structure, and of retaining the back panel 13 removably in position against back wall 4. This dual function of the shield 19 provides a highly economical structure which is fully effective to give all the desired functions with no increase in cost over the cost of a shield member performing only the single function of protecting the light 18.

While in accordance with the patent statutes I have described what at present is considered to be the preferred embodiment of my invention, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be made therein without departing from the invention, and it is therefore aimed in the appended claims to cover all such equivalent variations as fall within the true spirit and scope of my invention.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. A cooking oven comprising:

(a) a fixed box-like structure including top and bottom and rear walls and a pair of side walls, and having a front access doorway thereinto;

(b) an electric light extending into said structure forwardly from the rear wall thereof;

(c) removable rigid side and back panels respectively substantially coextensive in area with said side and back walls, said back panel having an opening formed therein for accommodating said light;

((1) means for maintaining said side panels in position against said side walls;

(e) a protective shield member for said light, said shield member being formed as a unitary U-shaped strip of spring metal and being secured at its ends on opposite sides of said light whereby said light is positioned within said shield member, said shield member having an externally convex indentation in one leg adjacent the end thereof;

(if) said back panel being formed so that, when said back panel is positioned against said back wall, the edge of said opening is trapped behind said indentation whereby said shield member retains said back panel in position.

2. The cooking oven defined in claim 1 wherein said back panel opening is formed as part of the top surface of said back panel, said U-shaped strip is vertically positioned, and said indentation is formed in the lower leg thereof.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,152,468 3/1939 De Reamer 240-402 3,153,408 10/1964 Brillas 126-49 NORTON ANSHER, Primary Examiner.

C. C. LOGAN 11, Assistant Examiner. 

1. A COOKING OVEN COMPRISING: (A) A FIXED BOX-LIKE STRUCTURE INCLUDING TOP AND BOTTOM AND REAR WALLS AND A PAIR OF SIDE WALLS, AND HAVING A FRONT ACCESS DOORWAY THEREINTO; (B) AN ELECTRIC LIGHT EXTENDING INTO SAID STRUCTURE FORWARDLY FROM THE REAR WALL THEREOF; (C) REMOVABLE RIGID SIDE AND BACK PANELS RESPECTIVELY SUBSTABTIALLY COEXTENSIVE IN AREA WITH SAID SIDE AND BACK WALLS, SAID BACK PANEL HAVING AN OPENING FORMED THEREIN FOR ACCOMMODATING SAID LIGHT; (D) MEANS FOR MAINTAINING SAID SIDE PANELS IN POSITION AGAINST SAID SIDE WALLS; (E) A PROTECTIVE SHIELD MEMBER FOR SAID LIGHT, SAID SHIELD MEMBER BEING FORMED AS A UNITARY U-SHAPED STRIP OF SPRING METAL AND BEING SECURED AT ITS ENDS ON OPPOSITE SIDES OF SAID LIGHT WHEREBY SAID LIGHT IS POSITIONED WITHIN SAID SHIELD MEMBER, SAID SHIELD MEMBER HAVING AN EXTERNALLY CONVEX INDENTATION IN ONE LEG ADJACENT THE END THEREOF; (F) SAID BACK PANEL BEING FORMED SO THAT, WHEN SAID BACK PANEL IS POSITIONED AGAINST SAID BACK WALL, THE EDGE OF SAID OPENING IS TRAPPED BEHIND SAID INDENTATION WHEREBY SAID SHIELD MEMBER RETAINS SAID BACK PANEL IN POSITION. 